In October of 1987, Teakwood Enterprises Inc. was created with the intention of giving their customers the true custom home experience, featuring personable service, reliability, efficiency, and a desire to build people their dream homes. Since their beginning, Teakwood has worked closely with their vendors, suppliers, sub-contractors, and employees to design and build homes precisely and economically. “Such a close companionship gives Teakwood the ability to count on their sub-contractors to fulfill their promise of work and satisfy customers” (Rev. Ramming, Homeowner). Also, due to their outstanding relations with other construction parties, when customers look for specific jobs to be done elsewhere, Teakwood provides safe and reliable references for any job a homeowner might need.

The founder and partner, Trent C. Taliaferro brings 21 years of experience to the company, the second partner, Stephen B. Taliaferro brings 20 years of experience, and with the other full time employees, Teakwood Enterprises has a combination of more than 70 years of experience and stability in the building industry. With the addition of Stephen Taliaferro as a partner, Teakwood can now service from East of Fredericksburg to Lake Anna and North Stafford to Southern Spotsylvania in addition to the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. Prospective customers can view the previous homes and projects completed by Teakwood on their website, www.TeakwoodINC.com. There customers can view the partners’ accomplishments and employee biographies.

Although Teakwood began as simply a remodeling contractor, they have expanded and grown in size, experience, and accomplishments; they now offer custom designs, remodeling, and “turn-key construction” (Customers simply sign the contract, make the selections and turn the key in the door to their new custom home). The state-of-the-art design center can create any house plan a customer is looking to have for their home.

Teakwood keeps three major criteria in mind for home design: the customers’ needs, property, and budget and will always strive to make the design work for the customer. Design beginnings range from a homeowner’s simple idea to full-scale plans from an architect; at Teakwood Enterprises, “We design and build what you want, because it’s your home, not ours” (Stephen B. Taliaferro, Partner). One prospective homeowner, Mrs. Fortune, was thrilled that Teakwood could impress her family with a custom design on their first try. (Note: Design Picture of Fortune Home Theatre) To second that, homeowners, Reverend Ramming and his wife, found that Teakwood listened to them and cared about their ideas and their input for their own home. Teakwood takes pride in their design process and promotes five factors to success.

Teakwood stands by their five keys to a perfect design: 1) a solid design, 2) individuality, 3) visualization, 4) response, and 5) communication all built on their level of experience to help homeowners achieve the design of their dream home.

First, a solid design dictates the success of any remodel/addition or new home. To Teakwood, a solid design finds the best balance between a customer’s ultimate dream and the necessary structural elements of a home. Experience has shown that when clients are pleased with their design they will enjoy their home for years to come.

Second, is individuality; the main reason that customers decide to remodel, build an addition or a new home, is to individualize their home and maintain their individuality.

Third, Teakwood knows that visualizing space from a 2D floor plan can be difficult, so Teakwood provides virtual walk-throughs and 3D views of the house, inside and out. This feature helps many homeowners realize exactly how their home will appear and helps them to refine their ideas accordingly.

The fourth key is Teakwood’s response. To help respond better to their customers, Teakwood can keep all design work “in house” eliminating the need for a third party architect. This helps them simplify the process which allows the customer’s project to move swiftly. During the design process, Teakwood emails their clients the floor plans and 3D renderings, thus eliminating the need to wait for appointments or wait on the mail to come, and which helps Teakwood respond to their customer’s needs quicker.

Lastly, Teakwood believes that creating dreams relies on good communication. Over the years they have gained excellent experience in translating their customers’ dreams into reality. Communication errors are reduced by working quickly and efficiently to produce their customers’ dream homes. Each and every one of these keys is a step in the design process, and each step is layered on years of experience.

For all those who believe the kitchen is the best room in the house, Teakwood can make their kitchen perfect in every way. Assistant Manager, Linda Ball can provide a thorough and explicit design of any kitchen, to suit any budget and desire. She knows how to create a kitchen providing as much space as the customer needs while still within the budget and space for the home. Using her experience, she is able to effectively communicate and respond to the homeowner and accomplish a design that satisfies every time. Many homeowners have found that with such a clear understanding of their kitchen, they knew exactly what to expect. “My kitchen is picture perfect!” (Mrs. Saunders, Homeowner).

After the design and contract are complete, Teakwood leads their customers through the entire building process step-by-step. Mrs. Saunders and her husband felt they got the most loyal and personable treatment and were also walked through the entire process. They were directed through each step by Teakwood, even if Teakwood was not involved with that part of the construction. The areas of construction Teakwood manages “in house” (or solely done by employees of Teakwood, no subcontractors) is the building of the foundation and exterior and interior trim because they believe these are the fundamentals that will affect your house in years to come. The foundation is the base for a customer’s entire home, and therefore critical to the building process. Teakwood owns state-of-the-art computer aided layout technology to ensure the base of a home is secure and positioned correctly on the lot. For the finishing touches to a home, Teakwood is solely in charge of all trim (exterior and interior) to guarantee that it is done precisely so their customers can enjoy the beauty of their home for years to come. While closely monitoring the work done throughout the entire building process and checking all accomplished tasks and controlling these two elements of the home, Teakwood ensures the customer of the safety and beauty of their home. “We absolutely love our home! We get compliments on it all the time; it feels good to hear something like that!” (Mrs. Frye, Homeowner).

In light of the world’s growing awareness of Going Green Teakwood has begun Green building procedures. For every home they build, Teakwood grinds four specific components: the wood waste, cinder block waste, shingle waste, and sheetrock waste. The milled wood waste is used to create coarse mulch and each homeowner is given the option to use the mulch for their yard or flowerbeds. The cinderblock waste is used as base gravel in the homeowner’s new driveway. When Teakwood’s office driveway needs a patch shingle waste is used as asphalt patch. Finally, to help the homeowner’s new home appear picture perfect, the sheetrock waste is used to give the lawn its first lime treatment (form of fertilizer) to help promote healthy lawn growth. Teakwood also takes into consideration the specific requests by homeowners. Mr. Beckhard requested a panelized home, which is extremely well insulted, reducing the need of heating and cooling and leads to a reduction in wood waste in the building process. Teakwood’s Green actions also show their commitment to customer satisfaction. Mr. Beckhard knows that his design, by Sunlight Homes, and building procedure is an unusual and difficult one, but is pleased with the productivity Teakwood has shown and the commitment to customer satisfaction.

As a family-owned, small business, Teakwood has the capability to be flexible and work with the homeowners to achieve their home. Mr. Miller requested that Teakwood only complete the home to “drying in” (or the framing, windows, roof, and siding) so he would be free to complete the rest on his own. Mr. Miller feels that Teakwood provided him with accommodating personable and adaptable service. Another instance of their flexibility was when the Ramming family had a scare in their building process; the RPA (Resource Protection Area, as governed by the Chesapeake Bay Act) held restrictions on how their addition could be positioned because of its proposed location. Teakwood worked calmly and efficiently with the local authorities to give the Rammings exactly what they desired and created the improvements they wanted. “My office was right there with the construction, so I saw the progress everyday, and I know how thorough Teakwood was in checking on my house and making sure work was getting done” (Rev. Ramming, Homeowner). Through their flexibility and custom home experience Teakwood gives custom timelines to each project and strives to efficiently and cost-effectively complete each to the highest quality possible. “It is unusual in construction for the timeline to be correct, but the date Teakwood gave us, was the day we walked into our new home!” (Mrs. Frye, Homeowner).

The father/son small business partnership allows Teakwood Enterprises to provide the best custom home experience to their customers and accomplish any job set before them. Their office and display area are set up with over 700 square feet, allowing the homeowner to grasp all of the aspects of designing, remodeling, and building a home within the office itself. This is a great help to those customers who don’t feel they know everything about construction (Mr. Beckhard, Homeowner). To their customers, all the information was accessible, even when Teakwood had to research new information for the homeowner (Mrs. Saunders, Homeowner). Giving their customers the highest quality service for the best possible price is Teakwood’s mission. Let Teakwood Enterprises build you a home for life, because with Teakwood, You are Home.